This is an ode to the young girls at gigs. The girls everyone makes fun of because they hold signs, they cry and they have a favourite member in the band, because they don't crowdsurf and they want to be at the front, because they value a pick like it's the apple of their eye, because they are overly emotional and they squeal. 

This is an ode to them because this scene desperately needs them. This scene cannot just rely on people getting old and sipping a beer with their mate at the back of the crowd. Imagine this from a band's point of view : if you're playing upbeat pop-punk or metalcore and everyone's staring at you, clutching their drink for dear life, you're probably going to be really confused and the show won't be that good for you. This scene needs those girls who cry at the front and who sing the lyrics at the top of their lungs, so loud they'll go to school without a voice the next day. This scene needs those girls who hold posters and have favourite members because as cringey as it might look to the older people, at least, they haven't just got lost at the show because there was a rock show. They are here because they genuinely want to be here, and they wouldn't trade places with anyone, ever, they wouldn't rather be at home watching Netflix and they don't care if they're going to fall asleep in math class the next day. Chances are, they want to be here more than anyone else in the room. They've saved up for months or they've pissed off their parents to buy them a ticket and drive them to the gig, maybe they've had to concede to their parents coming to the gigs with them. But they want to be here, they want to see their favourite bands, they want to have the time of their life and we may need them more than we need older people drinking beer and being clever on social media because being blasé is the new cool.

This is an ode to them because they don't care about being cool. They just want to have fun. When you go to gigs and people have to be asked to move forward by the band because they're all standing by the bar, it's refreshing seeing hordes of people being stuck to the barrier and the stage, just wanting to have the night of their lives. They'll talk about it for ages on social media and they'll be nostalgic by next week. They'll eagerly wait for the next tour and they'll count the days 'til the next gig. They're enthusiastic and someone has to be, because the second you become a grown up, being enthusiastic, passionate or emotional is a swear word and no one in their grown-up days wants to be associated with the girl who cried because she met the guitar player from her favourite band. They're here to remind us that being enthusiastic and having fun aren't crimes. They're having a better time than us old fucks with our beers. They're having fun shamelessly, fully, recklessly, unapologetically. They are living more than the rest of us are. They're here to remind us that having fun is okay and we'd probably be better for it.

This is an ode to them because whatever you say about them, we've all been there. Look back at your first gigs. Mine were almost a decade ago, but Christ, I was having the time of my life, even when stuff got cringey. I wouldn't hold up a sign for Josh Farro to give me a pick because it's my birthday, or for You Me At Six to play Contagious Chemistry because it's my friend's birthday anymore, but back then, I was having harmless fun. I don't mind remembering those signs and those cringeworthy moments because I lived. I was having fun. I was feeling confident and safe enough to try and get the band's attention from outside the stage. If it wasn't for those gigs where I gave a hundred and ten percent of myself, never mind how cringey it was, I'm not sure I'd still be going to gigs. We've all been there. We'll move on to the beer at the back stage soon enough. Let people have fun. We weren't harming anyone. They're not harming anyone either.

This is an ode to the young girls because whatever we want to say about them, even though we're too blasé to see the harmless fun in sitting on your friend's shoulders in a hundred cap gig, these girls, they buy merch. I've followed tours quite a few times in my lifetime. I've followed Bury Tomorrow on tour twice and despite the thousands of people who had seen them, they barely even run out of posters, let alone of t-shirts or sweaters. I've seen With Confidence four times over the past two weeks, the gigs are much smaller and yet, they were running out of sizes at merch by the end of the UK leg of the tour. These girls who are mostly still at school and have no income are here to buy all the merch none of us are buying anymore (probably because we're too busy splashing all our money on Ubers and beer), they literally financially support the bands more than we do, more than the moshing dudes do, more than the cool people do. Let's give them credit where credit's due.

Let these girls teach us a lesson or two, if we don't mind. Let them remind us how fun it is to scream the lyrics at the top of our lungs, who cares if we can talk the next day. Let them remind us how fun it is to live fully, to seize that stupid ass day instead of complaining we'd rather be at home and we're going to have to take the metro home. Let them remind us that if we're at the gig, it's not because we got lost in the streets of Pigalle and had twenty euros to waste - it's because we love music, we love live music and it's a part of who we are. Let them remind us that we've all been young and we've all done cringeworthy things in our lifetime, we've all been there. Let them remind us to own up to our youth, our mistakes and our shortcomings. Let them remind us that every once in a while, we probably should spend our money on a record rather than an overpriced pint - the venue will be okay without us, the band, maybe not. Let them remind us to take a break from being barely functioning adults the way they are taking a break from being functioning teenagers. 

Let them remind us that they're the future. In those young girls we make fun of, there's the future of our scene. Those girls are the ones who are going to create websites and magazines. Those girls are the ones who are going to write about their favourite bands. Those girls are the ones who are going to become photographers. Hell, those girls might even start our future favourite bands.

Let them remind us that we have been them and we turned out alright. 

Let them remind us that we better have their backs because they're the future.